My Cone and Only

by Susannah Nix

  I looked up at him and smiled. “I believe this naked munchkin belongs to you.

  Manny sighed. “Sorry about the butt rubbing. It’s her new thing.”

  “It pairs nicely with the nudist streak.”

  “Yes, she’s a true master of her craft,” he muttered dryly as he wrangled his daughter back into her clothes.

  When she was dressed again, I squatted down and offered Isabella my hand. “Can you take me to see your new baby brother?”

  “Okay.” She wrapped her chubby, sticky fingers around mine and dragged me over to the blanket where her mother was sitting with Josie.

  I returned Ryan’s wave as we walked past, then greeted Adriana and Josie.

  “Mama!” Isabella let go of my hand to crawl into her mother’s lap. “Andie wants to see the baby.”

  “Is he awake?” I asked, peering down at the bundle in Josie’s arms.

  “Let’s see.” She flipped back the blanket draped over her shoulder to shield him from the sun. “Yeah he is. Look at those pretty eyes.”

  Baby Jorge had been born a month ago, somewhat dramatically, after Adriana’s water broke in the middle of the cookie aisle at the HEB. The panicked store manager had called 911, and Ryan had roared up in his fire truck before Manny could get there to drive his wife to the hospital. Which turned out to be a good thing, because Adriana was already fully dilated and that baby wasn’t waiting around. Jorge had been delivered by his Uncle Ryan in the grocery store parking lot with Manny and the whole engine crew acting as Adriana’s birthing coaches. It was the most exciting thing to happen in Crowder since…well, since Wyatt had declared his love for me onstage at the Centennial Festival while dressed as Sheriff Scoopy.

  “Hey there, cutie pie.” I crouched down to touch Jorge’s soft little feet, which were the only part of babies I really liked. Mostly babies just reminded me of miniature-sized shriveled old men—incontinence, whining, and all.

  “Hey Andie, we saved you a seat,” Tanner called out, nudging Josh over to make more space on the blanket.

  I stopped off to give my aunt Birdie a kiss before squeezing onto the blanket between Wyatt’s brother and mine. Mia leaned around Josh to pass me a bottle of water from the cooler they’d brought. Summer had evicted spring with a vengeance, and with the midday sun overhead it was hot as a goat’s butt in a pepper patch.

  “How nervous is he?” Tanner asked me, peering over the top of his sunglasses.

  I’d just come from backstage, where Wyatt and the other members of Shiny Heathens were getting ready to perform their very first show featuring all new music. The mayor had decided to add live music to the First Saturday Farmers Market, which was taking place behind us at the other end of the town square.

  Part of me couldn’t help wondering if someone in Wyatt’s family had nudged the mayor into it—like his uncle Randy, maybe—but I hadn’t shared my suspicions with Wyatt. Given his stated feelings about his family exerting their influence on his behalf, I decided it would be better not to put that bug in his ear.

  I had cornered Birdie to ask if Randy had been behind it, but she’d pled ignorance of the entire matter. Whether she was being truthful, I couldn’t honestly say. That woman could be cagier than a zoo tiger when she had a mind to be.

  “He’s doing okay,” I told Tanner. “Only a regular amount of nervous.”

  Wyatt had come a long way since he’d anxiously played his first song for me. Working on his songs with the band had done a lot to build his confidence in his own talent. All the positive buzz they’d been getting hadn’t hurt either. They’d been drawing bigger and bigger crowds at the Rusty Spoke as they gradually added more original songs to their set list. Wyatt had always bloomed in the spotlight, but now that he was earning attention for his talent and hard work instead of his good looks and come-hither smile, he really seemed to be thriving. I didn’t worry about him nearly as much these days. Not like I used to.

  “That’s good.” Tanner glanced around us. “Looks like a lot of people came out today.”

  “It’s a bigger crowd than we usually get for just the market,” Josh observed. He had a booth at the farmers market where he sold the cheeses he made on the farm, so he was here every month. Today, however, he’d paid someone to run the booth so he could watch the show.

  “Guess all those flyers worked,” I said. We’d spent an afternoon putting them up all over town, wanting to make sure Wyatt had a good audience for his first big show.

  “Oh god,” Josh muttered beside me, covering his eyes as he ducked his head.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  I jabbed him in the arm with my elbow. “Liar.”

  “I just accidentally saw Adriana’s nipple is all.”

  I heard Tanner snort as I goggled at my brother’s embarrassment. “You’re a goat farmer. How can you be squeamish about nipples?”

  Josh shot me a scowl. “I’m not squeamish.”

  “Prudish, then.”

  “I’m not that either.”

  “Women’s breasts are no different than goats’ teats,” Mia interjected from Josh’s other side.

  He gave her a long look. “They’re a little different.”

  I arched an eyebrow at him. “Please explain how.”

  “I’m not having this conversation with you.”

  Mia leaned around Josh to address me. “It’s because he’s not attracted to goats, but he is attracted to women, and therefore their breasts.” She directed a smug look at him, clearly enjoying herself. “Right?”

  “Can we just drop it?” he pleaded. “This subject is making me uncomfortable.”

  That was definitely not happening. It was way too much fun tormenting my brother. “Why do women’s breasts make you uncomfortable?” I asked him. “You understand they don’t exist for sexual pleasure, right? They’re for feeding babies, which is pretty much the most wholesome thing in the world. That nipple you saw is simply performing the biological function it was designed to do. It’s not its fault that men can’t stop being horny for five seconds and let a nipple do its job without being attracted to it.”

  “I am not attracted to Adriana’s nipples,” Josh said, sounding horrified.

  “What’s wrong with my sister-in-law’s nipples?” Tanner deadpanned. “Are you saying they’re not attractive?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with them,” Josh shot back irritably. “I’d just prefer not to know what they look like. Out of respect for her and Manny.”

  Mia rounded on Josh, and I actually saw him shrink back at the look on her face as he realized he’d really put his foot in it now. “What does Manny have to do with it?” she demanded. “They’re not his nipples. Unless you think a woman’s nipples are the property of her husband.”

  “I hate this conversation,” Josh muttered, shaking his head.

  “You know what?” I said, leaning around him to address Mia. “It’s ridiculous that women are supposed to keep their functional, biologically necessary, baby-feeding nipples covered up while men get to walk around with their weird, useless, vestigial nips hanging out in public.”

  “I agree,” she said with a nod.

  “Like, why am I forced to look at men’s nipples but women aren’t allowed to let their nipples out in public? Maybe our nipples want fresh air and vitamin D too.”

  Mia waved her fist in the air. “Free the nipple!”

  “Hear, hear,” Tanner chimed in.

  Josh dropped his head into his hands and rubbed his temples. “Can everyone just please stop saying the word nipple? I’m literally begging you.”

  “I have nipples!” Isabella announced, appearing in front of us. She pulled up her dress to show us as Tanner dissolved into muffled laughter beside me.

  I grinned at her. “Yes you do, baby girl!”

  She looked down at herself, frowning in concentration as she counted her nipples. “One, two.” She held up two fingers proudly. “Two nipples!”

  “Good job!” I lean
ed forward to give her a high five.

  “They’re coming out onstage,” Mia said.

  “Thank god,” Josh mumbled.

  “Look, here comes Uncle Wyatt,” Tanner told his niece, directing her attention to the stage behind her.

  She spun around and clapped her hands. “Uncle Wyatt!” she shouted, pointing as she bounced up and down.

  Wyatt’s eyes scanned the crowd as he stepped up to the mic to greet the audience. When he found us he broke into a grin and pointed back at Isabella, giving her a wave.

  As soon as they launched into the first song, she started dancing. They always started their sets with the upbeat “Bait and Switch.” They’d played it often enough at their Rusty Spoke shows that I heard a few people around us singing along with the chorus.

  Isabella’s energy finally started to flag halfway through it. Tanner pulled her into his lap and got her comfortably settled as we all clapped at the end of the song.

  After the applause died down, Wyatt introduced the next song, which was “Bright as the Sun.” He hadn’t played it in public since his debut at Zelda’s, and my chest ached a little at the memory of that night. But today he boldly sought me out in the crowd, his lips curving in a sweet smile when our gazes tangled. “Andie, this one’s for you.”

  This time I didn’t have to hide my emotions as Wyatt sang the words he’d written about me. Matt had amped it up a little, giving it a driving beat and bass line, but the words were just as bittersweet. Wyatt’s gaze came back to me again and again, like he was singing directly to me, and I felt the connection between us like an invisible thread leading straight from his heart to mine.

  “Thanks very much,” he said after the song had ended and the applause had died down. His eyes sought me out again, crinkling with affection as he wrapped his hand around the mic. “That’s a song I wrote about regrets, but really it’s about fear and letting love slip your fingers because you’re too scared to fight for it.”

  Josh nudged me with his shoulder when I reached up to wipe my eyes. I nudged him back, for once not minding if he or anyone else saw me get teary. I was too happy to care. Too full of love for Wyatt and strengthened by his love for me.

  Isabella fell asleep in Tanner’s lap not long after that. Mia was leaning back against Josh, who was tapping the beat out on her thigh. On the next blanket over, Randy leaned close to Birdie and murmured something in her ear that made her smile. I stretched my legs out to soak up the sun, and let my eyes fall closed as the music washed over me.

  Halfway through the set, Wyatt brought Lucy out onstage to sing a few songs with him. I glanced at Tanner, and saw his jaw clench at the sight of her. His blue irises were dark and stormy as he stared at the stage, and his hands had balled into tense fists.

  I nudged him gently. “You okay?”

  He gave a jerky nod. “I didn’t know Lucy was singing with them.”

  “Wyatt didn’t tell you?”

  “No.”

  They’d been rehearsing together for a few weeks. Wyatt had written a duet, and Matt had recruited his sister to sing it with them and provide harmony on a few of the other songs. I wondered why Wyatt hadn’t told Tanner about it. Maybe he’d been afraid his brother wouldn’t come to the show if he knew.

  When Lucy started singing, I heard Tanner suck in a breath. I turned to study his face, which was so like Wyatt’s and yet so different in almost every way. As he watched her sing, I could swear I saw something that looked like yearning come into his eyes.

  “She’s got a nice voice, doesn’t she?” I’d been in choir with her in high school, so I was well acquainted with her amazing voice. Tanner seemed to have been taken off guard by it, however.

  “She sounds like an angel,” he replied quietly.

  Yep, I decided, that was definitely yearning. He still had it bad for her.

  “What happened with you and Lucy?” I asked him.

  His gaze didn’t move from the stage as he said, “It didn’t work out.”

  “So…what? It was a mutual decision?”

  His lips pressed together. “Something like that.”

  “It’s just that you seem awfully hung up about it still for an amicable breakup. Did she do something unforgivable?”

  Tanner dragged his gaze away from Lucy finally, his eyes narrowing slightly as he regarded me.

  “I’m just wondering if I need to be mad at her,” I added when he didn’t answer.

  “No.” There was a sadness in his eyes as he shook his head. “She didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Did you?”

  He huffed a bitter laugh. “Yeah, I fell in love with the wrong person. But it’s not her fault she didn’t love me back.”

  My lips pulled to the side as I tilted my head. “I feel like it’s kind of her fault for not appreciating how awesome you are. How could any sensible woman resist falling in love with you?”

  His mouth quirked. “You say that, and yet you didn’t fall in love with me, did you?”

  “Only because I was too busy being in love with Wyatt. Maybe if I’d met you first.”

  “Nah.” He shook his head as he turned back to the stage. “You and Wyatt were always meant to be together. Like biscuits and gravy.”

  “If that’s true, it means there’s someone who’s meant for you too. The biscuit to your gravy is out there somewhere waiting for you. You just haven’t figured out who it is yet.”

  “Sure.”

  I poked my finger into his arm. “Or maybe you have, and you just haven’t won her over yet.”

  He lifted his head and peered at me, frowning. “Why am I the gravy? Why can’t I be the biscuit?”

  “I don’t know. Because biscuits are soft and pillowy?”

  “Yes, but gravy’s wet and creamy.” His lips tugged to the side as his eyes sparkled with humor. “And you can put sausage in it.”

  I clapped my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing too loud as Tanner grinned at me. It was good to see him smiling again. He and Lucy were both so nice and both a little dorky in a way that made it seem like they ought to be perfectly suited. It sucked that things hadn’t worked out between them.

  “Fine,” I said. “You can be the biscuit if you want to be the biscuit.”

  “Thank you.” His attention caught on something behind me, and his smile faded. “Our dad’s here.”

  “What?” I turned to look, following his gaze. It took me a second to spot him, but sure enough, there was George King standing at the far edge of the green in the shade of a live oak tree. “I didn’t think he was coming.”

  Wyatt hadn’t spoken to his father since he’d confronted him about the lien on my house. I assumed someone in the family had told him about the concert today, but it had never occurred to me he’d actually show up.

  “Nor did I,” Tanner said.

  “Why is he over there by himself lurking in the shadows?”

  Tanner shook his head and turned his attention back to the stage. “I can’t claim to understand why that man does anything he does.”

  Thirty minutes later, Shiny Heathens played their last song, thanked the audience, and exited the stage to enthusiastic applause. Shortly thereafter, Birdie and Randy packed up their blanket and bid everyone goodbye. Nate left soon after that, but the rest of us stayed on the green, basking in the slight breeze stirring the air while we waited for Wyatt to come find us. Josh went to go check on his booth at the farmers market and came back with a box of fresh-baked cookies from one of the other stalls, which he passed around for everyone to share. He’d run into my friends, Kaylee and Megan, and they came over to chat for a few minutes before heading home. They hadn’t been nearly as surprised to find out about me and Wyatt as I’d expected. None of my friends had. I guess we hadn’t done as good a job of keeping our secret as we’d thought.

  Finally, after what felt like forever, I spotted Wyatt strolling toward us from the stage, his gait cheerful and his posture relaxed. Ryan bellowed his name, and Wyatt broke into a
grin as he lifted his hand to wave. Isabella, who was recovered from her nap and bursting with energy again, ran to meet him, and he caught her in his arms and perched her on his shoulders.

  I watched, patiently waiting as he greeted his family and received their compliments on his show. Once he’d paid his courtesies to everyone else, he finally turned his attention to me. Saving the best for last.

  His eyes locked onto me like a ravenous wolf, and he dropped to his knees in front of me with a breathtaking smile. “Hey you.”

  It used to hurt when he smiled like that, but it didn’t cause me pain anymore. Now it made my blood hum with happiness and my heart beat with love.

  “Hey you,” I replied as I met his smile with one of my own.

  Wyatt cupped my face in both hands as his lips touched mine in a soft, loving caress. But not too loving. Not with our families around us. We’d save the real kisses for later, when we were alone. For now, we kept it chaste. But also tender, refusing to be hurried no matter who was sitting next to us.

  Until Isabella threw her arms around Wyatt’s neck and tried to climb him like a jungle gym. He grabbed her with a playful roar, peeled her off him, and smothered her with kisses until she ran away shrieking about his beard poking her.

  Smiling, he watched her run to Ryan for protection, only to be attacked by more kisses. Everyone laughed as Ryan lumbered after her, pretending to be a big kissy bear while Isabella ran circles around him, squealing with delight.

  Wyatt’s eyes were twinkling like sapphires, so bright and happy I felt like my heart would explode. Hugging his arm, I leaned in to kiss his cheek and felt his smile grow wider under my lips.

  “Look around you,” I whispered in his ear.

  His gaze skated to either side of us as his brow wrinkled in confusion. “What am I supposed to be looking at exactly?” His voice was rough, the way it always was after a show, and it melted my insides like buttercream icing left out on a summer day.

  “All these people.” I lifted my fingers to his jaw, lightly scratching his beard with my nails. “All this love. Your family. Look at everything you have.”